Hi Guys,I live in Michigan, and had a 2nd home

Resolved Question:

Hi Guys, I live in Michigan, and had a 2nd home in the Windsor, Ontario area for many years. We had an adjustable rate mortgage the started with NBD Bank, then First Chicago NBD, then Washington Mutual, then Chase, then JP Morgan Chase,...., which jumped in yeild over 3 years, and tripled our monthly payments. We found it very difficult to refinance the home as our credit did begin to sag, and decided to list it for sale with a Remax agent. Throughout the process, over several years, the Banks changed names many times, and sold our note several times. We never could get a straight answer who to work with in the various loss mitigation departments, and we did have several short sale offers for the home, which the banks would not agree to, and even more incredibly, would not even give us an answer on. So we lost the potential buyers. So here we are. We were served with papers the other day from an investor who bought the note from the bank it looks like (state of claim) , and we have to appear in a Windsor, Ontario court and wants his money (principal and interest). We do not have the cash and will not in our lifetime to pay the Principal. Can we lose our Primary home or can it be attached to this suit? Can we consider bankruptcy to eliminate this concern? What options do we have. We figure they could lien out Prinary home, but they would have to get in line behind the IRS, who does have a first lien position, because of taxes we could nto pay back in 2000-2005. The IRS told us to let the home go, for them to agree to work with us and a payment workout strategy, and so we did. So nto sure where we stand, but obviously very concerned. Any advice or suggestions are greatly appreciated and welcome. Thank you so very much. XXXXXX

LADYLAWYER :This investor is looking to pick up the second property, not lien your primary home and foreclose on it. When you don't go to court I Windsor, the investor is going to take the home free and clear (and at a discount, nonetheless, because the bank sold it to him for less that what you owed them).

Customer:

hi there

LADYLAWYER :Hello! :)

Customer:

so what are my potential loss concerns financially? it looks like the investor is looking for me to pay him the note + 7% per year.

LADYLAWYER :The investor will not seek to lien your primary residence in MI in order to seek any balance over and above what he would get for selling the home in Canada.

LADYLAWYER :No, in my experience, he is just going to take the home in Windsor since you cannot pay on it.

LADYLAWYER :He will then sell it, rent it, or whatever.

LADYLAWYER :If he sells it and there are losses (difference between what he bought it for from the bank and what he sold it for), then yes, he can seek a deficiency judgment from you, but the likelihood of that is small.

Customer:

so am i responsible legally for any $$ due to the investor? also, should I show up in court, and if not, will a judgement just be rendered against me, and the situation is then resolved free and clear? I am terrified that we did everything that we could do to work with the bank and help them, but that somewhere out there, the hammer is going to drop and we will owe the $500K+ as it states in this letter???

LADYLAWYER :In any case, a lien on your primary residence would not happen.

Customer:

so that is good to know. but again, do i owe the investor any money, or is he happy to get the home and move on.....

LADYLAWYER :If you show up to court and cannot pay, or if you don't show up at all, the technical outcome is going to be the same.

LADYLAWYER :He can move forward with taking the home either way.

LADYLAWYER :USUALLY, they will take the home and move on.

LADYLAWYER :But it again depends on what he does with the home. It may be a while before his losses are fully recognized.

LADYLAWYER :And he cannot sue you or seek payment until he knows what those losses are.

Customer:

so the home is his....OK that is my question. he can have the home. but do any utility bills due, also get covered by him as they are attached to the home?

LADYLAWYER :That would be up to Windsor. Sometimes, the utilities company attaches the bill to the property itself so that a new owner will have to pay it before they get the utilities back on and other times, the bill attaches to the person who it originally belonged to.

LADYLAWYER :You will have to call the utilities company for the answer to that.

Customer:

the Plaintiff craves leave to produe the mortgage document at trial - not sure what that means....

Customer:

...produce.....

LADYLAWYER :Just saying he requests that the mortgage document be produced at trial.

Customer:

also,..."if you pay the plaintiff the claim,...and $2500 for costs...you may move to have this proceeding dismissed". still sounds like he wants his money......

LADYLAWYER :He legally has to give you the option to pay to keep the property. This is your right under the law and he must give you this option before he moves for foreclosure.

LADYLAWYER :These investors want the home; no one ever pays them the money or they wouldn't be in foreclosure in the first place.

Customer:

so botXXXXX XXXXXne, he cannot come after my primary home in Michigan so that is good....and it sounds like as you say, he just wants the home with HOPEFULLY no further recourse against me.....

LADYLAWYER :It doesn't make good sense to buy these notes that haven't been paid on and are heading towards foreclosure unless you can be pretty sure you're going to get the property that secures the note.

LADYLAWYER :That is what usually happens.

Customer:

it there any benefit to contacting the investor's law firm on the letterhead of the docs i was served, introduce myself, and hopefully try and further clarify the docs, or just let it go. the reality is that I have less than zero shot of getting out of work, to head over to Windsor for the court proceeding anyway, but if it were to be critical to do so, which i do not really want to do, i would...... but not answering in some manner, also is a bit un-nerveing......(probably spelled the incorrectly - sorry)

Customer:

or contacting the court directly??

LADYLAWYER :I mean, you should know that the homestead exemption in MI is only $3,500 so unless you live in a mobile home, usually your home is worth more than that. This means that the investor technically could seek to attach to your primary residence with a lien BUT, the amount of the lien, if any, is reduced by the funds received on the secondary home. In otherwords, if he sold the home in Windsor for $450k, he could try to lien you for 50k, but again, in my experience, this is generally not what happens.

LADYLAWYER :Sure, you can contact them and try to work something out if you're trying to keep the home.

LADYLAWYER :The court cannot do anything for you. They will tell you to contact the investor or his lawfirm.

Customer:

what also killed my value, was that the resort community never took off. homes droped in value, the economy tanked, and values dropped more. i paid $531K. Remax was trying to sell for $399K against homes that were foreclosed on and listing for $150K. the same excact homes as mine. So thank you for calming me against my concerns for my primary Michigan home. I do not want to lose it..... Hopefuly this nightmare will be over soon. You have been wonderful!!!!!

LADYLAWYER :You are most welcome!

LADYLAWYER :Please let me know if you have any further questions about this--I am happy to answer them! If not, would you kindly leave a positive rating for me at this time? It costs you nothing further to do but it is the only way the site will give me credit for my time. Thank you!

Customer:

I do not want to keep the 2nd home. only my primary. i just hope to not have to owe this guy for the rest of my life IF he decides to come after me, beyond taking the 2nd home. he can have it....... Again, thank you.

I will tell you that...the things you have to go through to be an Expert are quite rigorous.

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